Location: Same as before
Device: Same as before
Time: 50 minutes
I followed Scott Waldron’s (the youtuber I mentioned) walk-through of Zork I and found the skeleton key in the maze. It didn’t even occur to me that I could go up, not just North, West, or South. Without a specific set of commands, I wouldn’t have been able to leave the maze or find the Cyclops Room. I would’ve found myself lost just like the five (or more) other times I tried leaving the maze. In the room, I encountered a cyclops and tried killing him with my sword, which had no effect on the creature except making it angry. Through watching Waldron’s playthrough, I was able to scare the cyclops away by stating “odysseus” instead of trying to kill it multiple times. I probably would have been crushed by the creature without that specific command.
I found Zork frustrating, but not as much as Civilizations. Having an easily accessible manual made my own play-through less challenging than it could have been. The manual provided a historic background behind the game’s structure, which leads me to believe that Zork I has an embedded narrative. I found a pamphlet and a matchbook that gave information about the city described in the manual. They both built on the description of a lost city and enrich that storyline. At the same time, Zork is also an emergent narrative since you create your own story based on how you progress. However, I don’t have the ability to develop my character within the game and I’m restricted to solving one puzzle at a time to reach different locations. Without completing the puzzles, I can’t find the treasures hidden at the various locations and ultimately finish the game. I was able to find a jeweled bracelet, a gem egg, and a bag of coins which was only a few of the times available for collecting.